Andy Spark
Observations, occurances and eventual obituary of Andrew Sparkes (1987 - )
Twitter: The Truman Show could possibly be my favourite film, and I hate making decisions like that... 3 days ago
Twitter: The Truman Show could possibly be my favourite film, and I hate making decisions like that... 3 days ago
…to find yourself a job when there’s nothing worth working for? So posed Noel Gallagher in writing “Cigarettes & Alcohol”. As it turns out, yes. On a whim, I took my friend John up on the offer of temping for a mutual friend during the summer rush of rota staff on holiday and doing jobs out of the office.
The past few weeks have been hectic and relaxing all at the same time.
Went to my family home in London for my sister’s birthday during the first full weekend of June, then back to Bournemouth for the following week.
I then went back to London the next weekend to let Jim stay at mine for a London gig with his new band, Trash Fashion. Then back to Bournemouth the following Thursday. I managed to stay for a couple of weeks during which I fashioned myself a mustache (which quickly came off the next morning) and went to the beach.
Next Saturday, my dad brought the car down to take all of my clothes and crates of random stuff back to London, with me in it. Jim joined me the next day to stay again as he’d just got back from Barcelona for a festival with Trash Fashion. We went to Camden followed by his comedy competition gig on the Monday.
It was while I was in Camden that John called me about the temping job. Being a bit strapped for funds at the moment, I took him up on the offer of temping the next day. Pessimistically expecting that I’d only work for the one day, I ended up working flat-out from Tuesday to Friday. This gave me enough money to come back to Bournemouth for the weekend, following the offer of a lift in the company Land Rover as some staff travelled to the town center on a survey job. I’m hopefully going to be temping at some point next week, too, if they need me.
Jim left on Wednesday during the madness of my job and sudden hayfever attack. Only I could end up drinking Lemsip in the middle of summer.
Never seen Baywatch, but I’ve had a soft spot for the theme music since I’ve been in student clubs on cheese night. This is brilliant, though…
This was inspired by the original video, a political advertisement, which can be seen at YouTube.
But imagine a whole film in the same vein. We see a set of tragic circumstances play out. Dialogue shouted by and to various characters spinning a yarn about murders, affairs and betrayal. A revenge is plotted which practically spells the death-knell for a character, who is corrupt (having killed an innocent beforehand) and heartless (having not shown guilt or empathy since).
But then, suddenly, just before the half-way point - the point that this non-redeemable character would be killed at… The whole thing reverses.
The character, saying the same lines backwards, becomes the saviour of the other characters. The same dialogue as before is shouted (backwards, a line at a time) by and to various characters, revealing situations of birth, proposals and loyalty. The events leading to the avenged death of the character, when in reverse, can be seen as creating the climax for them to show their true colours by saving the character they previously killed themselves in the first run-through from another character trying to kill them - the character saving them in the first run-through.
We finish right at the ‘beginning’, to learn that what we once thought was an omen of cruelty, when said backwards, actually embodies hope. Of course, all we saw was the same film - with the same dialogue and the same set of events - one way around and then the other. It is not a message that hope will carry through over cruelty - simply that things can sway one way or another for people at different points in their lives and that good and bad aren’t quite so clear-cut.
I have no idea how to write a whole feature-length script in the style of those two short films, though, (as they seem almost-impossible on their own!) but I’d certainly love to see a movie like that. The potential for mind-fucks is almost unparalleled compared to the traditional non-linear thriller of recent years.
PS - Yes, I found that YouTube video on Digg.
alcohol basw birthdays blog bournemouth characters christmas clerks clubbing controversy dreams dvds east coast episodes feature-length film food friends hangovers house parties jersey girl jobs kevin smith laziness lectures london lost mallrats meetings memories money movies new york nocturnal oscars procrastination relationships scriptwriting scrubs series series bible sexuality teachers television the lounge university webcasts wordpress (all tags)