A storyboard from Maconie's List. By Andrew Cheydleur.
Firstly, thanks to everyone who took 12 minutes and 47 seconds out of their life to watch Maconie's List. You'll never get it back you know.
At the last count the film's had more than 5,500 views at crackle.com. It's great to think that so many people have seen my short and I really appreciate your comments. Although to be honest, much of your critique mirrors my own, which goes to show that even if someone is paying you to make a film you should still go with what's in your gut.
So this week I thought I'd answer some of your questions about the plot, character development and much fought-over ending.
The original script, and - let us not forget - the one that won me the competition, had Maconie killing Katherine as per this cut. After the gunfight Maconie sees his list with the words "Kill Katherine" on it and is compelled to strangle her with the tea towel.
Originally, I had a post-death scene with a much happier, dead Katherine in the coffee shop doing a piece to camera about how she was pleased that Maconie had killed her because now she was free. She reveals how she had a lucky escape with Rudy because he was into S&M, hence his disappointment at her being a "no whip" girl earlier in the day.
The argument against this ending was that it broke Katherine's character arc. She struggles not to die but is then happy she's dead. My counter argument was: "It's quirky, this is short so we can experiment and I don't want to end the film on a downer. I want her in death to feel empowered."
The spine of the movie was that we are responsible for our lives and that we should never lose hope no matter how bleak things seem.
The first screened ending shown at the Duke City festival back in July had us cut to the coffee shop but this time Maconie is chatting up Katherine's platinum blonde twin Karen. (It actually hurts to write that down). We then see Rudy wrongly arrested for Katherine's murder (the one nice touch), and at that point Katherine appears in ghostly form to chastise her sister and express sympathy for Rudy. Bad soap opera ending. Glad it's gone.
My big problem, and it was commented on a few times last week, was that Maconie's OCD, list-dependent character conceits were lost in the re-writes. My script mentor was adamant that I'd written "too much Maconie". I thought she was wrong, losing his scenes meant the film lost some of its momentum. The original script had him spilling food down his T-shirt and getting upset at the mess, a montage where he dresses meticulously for the hit, and a longer cake-baking scene.
Another comment was: "Why does she want to die?" I suppose the answer is that she has no hope. Her life is a lonely drudge. If you don't buy into that, then you're not going to get the film. John Lore, my DP and I, had long discussions about how we could "sell" her despair. Hence the endless corridors, no mail in her pigeon hole and the flowers for Sally. I really felt that the depressing office scenes, the big empty spaces, long dolly and Stedicam shots and that fact that she's sitting alone in the canteen playing with a Rubik's Cube during her birthday lunch hour, shows how far removed from society she is.
People have also said, "Why does she go to work?" and "Why doesn't she just take an overdose?' In a nutshell, 12 minutes of watching someone at home on the sofa drifting in and out of consciousness might be ok for Warhol, but I wanted to do something that had a bit more action.
However, it's almost Christmas so lying on the sofa drifting in and out of consciousness is almost compulsory in my household.
See you after the festivities...
