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New Ideas

post #1 of 7
10/16/05 at 10:42pm
Thread Starter 
I am starting this thread to hear your ideas for movies. Sort of like a place for people to share their ideas with others and get feedback on their ideas for movies and stories. I personally have a few stories I'm writing that I could use feedback, maybe some new perspectives on.

This is not a place to be stealing others ideas, but help them out with problems they encounter and maybe throw out ideas they maybe never would have thought of.

So to kick this off, I'll throw out one of my story ideas and see what you guys / girls have to say.

A group of friends are in their last year of high school, and they go on a campin trip. One of them, the "science nerd" type, goes for a walk to use the bathroom and gets bit by a vampire, then passes out. Friends find him in morning, notice bite marks, pass it off and head home. They begin to notice 'changes' (I think we all kinda see where this is goin) and try to figure out whats wrong with him. So it gets to the point where they have to try and find a cure during the day, and then the friends leave and take the work with them and hide it from the "science" guy so that when he starts feeling vampire urges, he doesnt try and destroy it.
So they work during the day and fight and hide throughout the night. Till the climax where they have the cure and try to find and use it on the vampire friend.

It's just a basic idea of a story, so lets hear your criticism, your feedback, your ideas, and your stories.
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post #2 of 7
10/17/05 at 12:40am
Dude, I don't want to upset you, but "start again" is my best advice. From the get go, your idea has "seen it" written all over it.

If you want to do a vampire story, use some original characters. The basic dynamic - the friends wanting to save their pal while also not wanting to bacome bat food - is okay and could make an interesting story. But why high school kids? First, they would NEVER find a cure. Just not logical. Second, the science nerd thing has been done to death and seriously, a) who takes nerds camping with them? Don't nerds by definition get together at their friends' houses and watch Motny Python? And b) if the nerd is gonna have something to do with finding the cure, then you've got the science boy genius cliche - why does every school in America seem to produce child geniuses, yet modern science isn't moving that fast?

Plus, how come there's a vampire in the woods?!

What you've got is basically The Faculty crossed with Cabin Fever (neither of which are very good) with a touch of The Lost Boys for good measure. Aim higher. Think of an interesting/unique/bizarre setting for your basic story and let logic lead the way.

And maybe don't have them find the cure. Let the dude decide he digs being a vampire and runs away or something...

I too have been working on a vampire story and have been trying to make it more offbeat, humanistic and realisitc, while sticking to vampire lore. However, since I fear you may be a Paramount studio exec on the scout for good ideas, I'm not gonna share it.
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post #3 of 7
10/17/05 at 6:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sprunt4u
I think we all kinda see where this is goin'...
And there's your main problem.
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post #4 of 7
10/17/05 at 9:36am
Add some naked male towel snapping to the camp scenes and you have a winner.
There's nothing inherently wrong with using a cliched plot. It's all in how you tell the story (especially if you're just getting started in writing, as I suspect you are). Start with tis basic plot, then develop your characters. Give them a history and personalities. Then insert them into your story and see how they would react. That way your story evolves a bit more organically.
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post #5 of 7
10/17/05 at 10:14am
My take on the story would be that the group of teenagers go camping specifically to kill one of their friends because they're the worst fucking friends ever. They've actually been trying to kill him since junior high. When they go camping, your vampire devours the kid and his friends spend the rest of the movie being pissed because someone else killed him first. It's a story about dealing with life's many disappointments.
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post #6 of 7
10/17/05 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 
Well I'm gonna start like this, thanks for the idea of me being a paramount exec, but I'm actually just an 18 year old Canadian who is extremely passionate about movies and trying to give a place where people can help each other with their writing , for cases like writers block, or fresh perspectives.

Ok, now addressing the story. I chose high school because I am 18, and this is going to be very low budget and I can get my friends to act and stuff. I am aiming for an Evil Dead kind of campy horror. As far as the nerd goes, whether most people want to admit it or not, they have nerd friends. As well, if you are that against nerds, then your are just a shallow ass, so what they are nerds, they can be cool too. It IS possible if you give them a chance.

The whole conflict there was that he's going through these changes and his friends aren't that smart, so he has to work to cure himself, and then they have to stop his vampire-turning side from destroying the work. More like a Jekyl and Hyde kind of angle. It's just a basic idea, I didnt work too hard on it, as I have a much bigger project on the go now.

Oh ya, also read this one guy on the CHUD msg board telling his idea for a zombie TV show. It is a really good idea and I encourage you to go check it out. I know zombies have been done to death, but still, it is a very clever idea.
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post #7 of 7
10/17/05 at 11:22pm
18 eh? Your profile says you are 19. The plot thickens... You sure you're not an exec here cribbing ideas?

Anyway, look, I wasn't trying to blast you or nerds. I assumed that this was just a script that you were gonna try and get finance for, not something you were gonna shoot on the fly off your own back. If that is the case, I salute you - its the best way to learn what works and what doesn't - just going out and shooting something. My point about nerds was that there always tends to be a slightly nerdy character hanging with the cool/sexy kids and they rely on him for the solution, having shunned him previously. The bias works the other way too, you know - you can be attractive, popular and smart. My problem is wth the cliche, not with the social archetype.

That aside, my criticisms still stand. It could be mroe interesting if one of the kids got bit and none of them knew what to do. In his anguish, the infected character pleads the others to help him, then turns and the anger becomes blood-lust - he starts hunting them. Out of fear, the others decide to try and find someone to help them, but its all helpless and they all end up getting bitten... something like that - a bit darker, more dramatic and less down the beaten path. No?
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