One of the first scenes I developed when piecing this story together was a car chase scene between the girls and a group of black SUVs. Car chases are a movie nerd thing. Movie nerds know that the original Gone in 60 Seconds featured a 1974 Ford Mustang Mach 1 as Eleanor and not the Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 from the 2000 remake. Not to say the spectacle of car chase scenes are lost on regular moviegoers. It’s just that movie nerds see more than just crashes and speeding vehicles in those movie moments.
There is a great deal of narrative that can be delivered without too much being said, simply by how the characters solve the problems that come up during a car chase. Hell, Vanishing Point directed by Richard C. Sarafian was nothing but a one hundred and six minute car chase. Yet it conveyed drama, jeopardy, character development, and progressional climactic elevation.
A good example of the expository benefits of a car chase is The Hire series, a set of promotional videos made by BMW in 2001. These short films were directed by famous filmmakers such as Tom Millian, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Guy Ritchie, Alejandro Gonzalez-Innarritu, John Woo and Tony Scott. Sadly this collection included the last car chase directed by legendary vehicular mayhem king, John Frankenheimer. These thinly veiled commercials were still able to incite drama, emotion and excitement despite just being commercials.
That being said, there aren’t many female protagonists behind the wheel of the car. Sure, you have Natascha McElhone in Ronin, but she was nothing more than a distraction for Robert DeNiro. The only memorable scene Maggie Blye had in The Italian Job involved a leather skirt. As for Angelina Jolie in her countless action films, she’s yet to be put in a good car chase moment.
In Perfume and Primer Caps, I made the savant-like chemist, Boom Boom, the team’s wheelwoman. Boom Boom’s incredible skill behind the wheel and knowledge of films lends her to an affinity towards cars solely based on movie references. Otherwise, cars are only a tool to her. A means to an end. I refused to pigeon hole her into a stereotypical car enthusiast driver.
I drew an info-graphic back in the early stages of development, so that Pete got the drift of what I was talking about. Hope you enjoy it.
- Lucky
This week’s forecast: a hail of bullets, with a chance of large knives!
CLICK HERE OR ON THE THUMBNAIL FOR THE PREVIEW!
One of the many important things about creating content nowadays is the matter of logistics. The actual process of delivering the content to your audience. This is a lot harder than it sounds. Many of you may be wondering: What’s there to think about? You draw some pictures, type some words and voila; you’re finished. Well, there’s a lot to think about. Even for a small self publication like this. Things like choice of private publisher, marketing and printing and even somethings as mundane as finding a market thoroughfare to get this book into all of your lovely hands. The last of these will be easy for the first few copies. Just come to Fan Expo and buy a copy from us directly. It’s all the other stuff that leads us up that point that will consist of phone calls, money and time. It just seems like we’re at the most un-fun part of the whole process.
Again, this may seem kind of moot when we’re all living in the age of connectivity. Just post your crap online and hope people read it. Remember, we want to bring a full book experience to people. Cover to cover of enjoyability and fun. We also want to do it without compromise, so I realize this is the price we pay. I know, I’m using this opportunity to complain and grouse, but that’s what a process blog is all about. Bitch and moan to people who don’t care.
I think I may have gotten that last part wrong, but oh well.
Just so that this week isn’t just a showcase of my complaints, and I know how much you people would rather see Pete’s artwork than read my bi-weekly contributions, I’ve included a preliminary blocking sketch I drew for one of the warehouse scenes.
- Lucky
Someone’s looking for some immediate revenge in this week’s preview!
BAM! THAT’S THE LINK TO SEE IT. OR HERE. OR THE THUMBNAIL.
It may not feel like it, but it’s the midst of spring. In the literary’s mind, it’s a time of renewal, a refreshment of character and new beginnings: tabula rasa. For someone like me, it means sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes. Enough of my whining though. I bring up spring, because we always seem to find more time for ourselves around this season. With more time to ourselves, we tend to get less done, unless we focus on our work.
I’m still in the throws of writing Volume 2, after a little break from PPC. It’s a little known secret that writers actually see the characters they create as real people, but that is only through development and growth. I’m starting to have fun with this again, the existing characters are growing and the new characters are great additions to the story. Sometimes it pays to step back from your work for just a little bit.
A great example of this was the beginning of Volume 2 when I left it in the winter. It was about eight pages of straight exposition, I forgot that the dialogue was supposed to be whimsical and fun. It was panel after panel of a man talking to two women about his master plan. Now, what fun is that? I mind as well have been writing the last two pages of a Todd MacFarlane comic. After putting PPC aside for a few weeks, writing a few chapters of a noir style story to get the seriousness out of me, and coming back to PPC in the spring; I was able to fit in exposition in a scene where Russian mobsters discuss the falling quality of Chinese takeout as they plan a double murder. All is well again.
Pete’s still hard at work on the pages of Volume 1 and he’ll be sequestering himself to make the print deadlines. Hope to see you all when this book debuts.
- Lucky
